Levelling the playing field: small European publishers, open access transition and the problem of scale

Small publishers are vital to scholarly communication, particularly in the humanities and social sciences and in contexts that are poorly served by large commercial publishers. This study highlights the systemic inequities that small publishers face, emphasizing the imbalances between large and small publishers. To support the analysis, a mix of interview, focus group and case study data was collected from six European countries: Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. The small publishers report strong ideological and ethical alignment with open access (OA) principles. While most publishers interviewed see OA as an inevitable shift in scholarly publishing, they perceive the transition to be constrained by structural inequities of scale and systemic barriers in the publishing ecosystem. Each of the six countries in the study provides some support for small publishers; however, this support is unevenly distributed and does not adequately address the persistent inequities that small publishers face. There are few financially sustainable OA models available to small publishers. The study found that funding for small publishers is precarious, supportive policy is not comprehensive and that changing perceptions of the prestige of OA is essential. The authors make recommendations aimed at levelling the playing field for these publishers.